The Mid-Autumn Festival coincides with the National Day holiday. Data from multiple tourism agencies show that this year’s ultra-long holiday presents a multi-line tourism pattern of “nature + culture + experience”. The American website "Travel and Tourism World" has also recently paid attention to the craze of cultural tourism. The website published an article on September 25 saying that China's emphasis on and protection of traditional culture and monuments has turned some cities into highly attractive cultural cities and is leading new trends in future tourism.
The article stated that other famous Chinese cultural cities besides Beijing and Shanghai have also emerged as major destinations for international tourists, and the development of China's tourism industry is entering a new stage. Driven by cultural heritage protection, immersive experience, digital tourism, tourist infrastructure upgrades, and cultural consumption strategies, cities such as Xi'an in Shaanxi and Xiamen in Fujian are becoming models for transforming historical heritage into modern tourism products. This change reflects China's efforts to promote the in-depth integration of culture and tourism and create diversified tourist destinations for domestic and foreign tourists.
The article believes that China's tourism industry has achieved record-breaking growth in the past five years, which has created new opportunities for regional cities to compete on the global tourism stage. Chinese tourist destinations no longer just focus their tourism demand on traditional "international gateway cities" such as Beijing and Shanghai, but are increasingly committed to creating a professional cultural tourism ecosystem around historical heritage, museums, local traditions, food culture, performing arts performances, and technology-driven experiences.
This emerging trend marks the transformation of China's tourism industry from traditional "sightseeing tours" to "experience-oriented tours". Travelers are increasingly looking for destinations that perfectly combine history, lifestyle, leisure and entertainment with local characteristics to provide a complete travel experience. This transformation is also directly in line with China's cultural tourism development direction, which is to promote the in-depth integration of culture and tourism and encourage various localities to create more locally identifiable cultural attractions, tourism products and unique experiences.
The article believes that the growth of Xi'an's tourism industry vividly explains how ancient heritage has transformed into modern global tourism products. Relying on its unique status as the "ancient capital" and the "starting point of the Silk Road", Xi'an is creating a new tourism model that deeply integrates archaeological heritage, museums, performing arts performances, cutting-edge technology and business experience. Xi'an has become one of the most typical successful examples of China's cultural tourism transformation.
If Xi'an represents the profound heritage of China's historical tourism, then Xiamen demonstrates another emerging model: the perfect combination of coastal cultural tourism and lifestyle experience. The article stated that Xiamen, located in Fujian Province, has successfully created a highly recognizable destination image by relying on its island scenery, marine culture, historical districts and leisurely urban atmosphere.
The article also specifically mentioned that Xiamen’s tourist attraction is inseparable from Gulangyu Island. As a World Cultural Heritage recognized by UNESCO, Gulangyu Island is famous for its unique cultural landscape and historical buildings. Xiamen vividly illustrates China’s successful practice of effectively protecting historical heritage while integrating it into modern tourism development.
The article concludes by saying that this trend in China's cultural tourism field shows that in the future, competition among tourist destinations will no longer depend solely on famous landmarks. Cities that can successfully combine heritage conservation, storytelling, technology use and quality services will have greater opportunities to attract international visitors.
